by Clay Barham
What a winning possibility awaits the GOP, with the resurrection of Bob Dole, moderate senator and veteran, in the form of John McCain, moderate senator and veteran. Facing the winds of change - a new populism of Mike Huckabee, Barack Obama and Ron Paul - the old guard offers up the has-been winning ticket.
The GOP will never learn, and the old party, back room cigar-smoking Democrats fail to get the message as well. The political king, and queen, makers miss the point of what is going on in the streets. Drawing from their old kit bags of ward-heeling special interest placating policies, which consistently leave the interests and views of the voters out of the equation, they are surprised.
The voters are no longer compliant followers in any political party, because the country and the world sit on a sharp precipice of uncertainty.
How will it all shape out as we plow through the primaries? The close-in early primaries were supposed to help Hillary, which is why states arranged them as they are. They were supposed to provide Hillary an out-of-the-box popularity against a known fractioning of the GOP candidates. With the Obama populism, followed closely by the GOP Huckabee populism, all bets are off, and Hillary will never benefit from the new primary schedule, even if she wins enough delegates to be the candidate of her party.
However, even worse for her will be the continued presentation of Republican differences brought out at every primary, up to the GOP convention. The GOP convention may pick their candidate and the world will watch it. Hillary will, having been bruised, finally achieve her party coronation, but the scars will not serve as her stars.
The populism of Obama, Huckabee and Paul centers on the individuals making up the nation and its voters. Each focus on how they will use the power and organization of government to deliver, to individual voters, the services they want and expect from their government.
In the case of Obama, he pledges a caring government at the center of life, to pay for everything, such as health care, school the children, the mortgage and solve the problems we all have to face in life. Huckabee will use government sparingly as needed to satisfy only the compassion of bureaucracy. Paul will tell individuals to take care of themselves, as they have done throughout the growing period of America.
Each speaks to individuals rather than their communities, as do the old guard, as they know only individuals vote. All three have carved out a new political landscape, which disturbs the tranquility and predictability of the old guard, Democrats and Republicans.
Democrat leadership wants Hillary. Republican leadership wants Bob Dole in the form of John McCain.
The people want something different. In the end, what will each of them get?
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